HERBAL MONOGRAPHS TURMERIC /775Schulz HK, Hausen BM, White wood allergy (author's transl)
Derm Beruf Umwelt, 28:158-60, 1980.Turkey Corn
Dicentra cucullariaDESCRIPTION
Medicinal Parts: The medicinal part is the dried tuber.Flower and Fruit: The inflorescence is racemous. The 4 to
10 flowers are odorless, white and often tinged pink. The
flowers are hanging, with yellow to yellow-orange tips and
widely splayed spurs. The fruit is oval and 9 to 13 mm long.
The seeds are reniform, 2 mm long, black and glossy.Leaves, Stem and Root: Turkey Corn is a delicate, glabrous,
15 to 40 cm high plant on a tawny yellow, tuberous rhizome.
The rhizome has subglobular, pink, smaller tubers about 0.5
cm in diameter, with a scar on both depressed sides. All the
leaves are basal and almost triangular in outline. They are 3-
pinnate and bluish-green on the underside.Characteristics: The taste of the tuber is bitter.Habitat: Canada and U.S.
Production: Turkey Corn root is the root of Dicentra
cucullaria.
Other Names: Squirrel Corn, Staggerweed, Bleeding Heart,
Corydalis, Dutchman's Breeches
ACTIONS AND PHARMACOLOGY
COMPOUNDS
Isoquinoline alkaloids: including bicuculline, corlumine,
protopine, cryptopine, cularineEFFECTS
Diuretic and tonic
INDICATIONS AND USAGE
Unproven Uses: Turkey corn is used for digestive disorders,
urinary tract diseases, menstrual disorders and skin rashes.
Formerly it was used for syphilis.
PRECAUTIONS AND ADVERSE REACTIONS
Health risks or side effects following the proper administra-
tion of designated therapeutic dosages are not recorded.
Bicuculline is a centrally acting, spasmogenic antagonist of
gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA). Due to the bicuculline
componant, poisonings are possible if higher dosages are
consumed, but none have been reported to date.DOSAGE
Mode of Administration: The drug is available as a liquid
extract.
LITERATURE
Kanamori H, Sakamoto I, Mizuta M, Chem Pharm Bull
34:1826. 1986.
Manske RHF, Canad J Res 7:265-269. 1932.
Manske RHF, Canad J Res Sect B 16:81-90. 1938.
Tusboi NS, J Labelled compd Radiopharm 13:353. 1977.
Further information in:
Hansel R, Keller K, Rimpler H, Schneider G (Hrsg.), Hagers
Handbuch der Pharmazeutischen Praxis, 5. Aufl., Bde 4-6
(Drogen): Springer Verlag Berlin, Heidelberg, New York, 1992-
1994.
Madaus G, Lehrbuch der Biologischen Arzneimittel, Bde 1-3,
Nachdruck, Georg Olms Verlag Hildesheim 1979.
Roth L, Daunderer M, Kormann K, Giftpflanzen, Pflanzengifte,- Aufl., Ecomed Fachverlag Landsberg Lech 1993.
Steinegger E, Hansel R, Pharmakognosie, 5. Aufl., Springer
Verlag Heidelberg 1992.
Teuscher E, Lindequist U, Biogene Gifte - Biologie, Chemie,
Pharmakologie, 2. Aufl., Fischer Verlag Stuttgart 1994.
Turmeric
Curcuma domestica
DESCRIPTION
Medicinal Parts: The medicinal parts are the stewed and
dried rhizome.
Flower and Fruit: The inflorescence is cone-like, 10 to 15
cm long, and is attached to a stem enclosed in a sheathing
petiole. The flower has 2 pale green bracts, which are 5 to 6
cm long. The covering bracts are whitish, often red-tinged.
The individual flowers are yellowish-white or yellow. The
flowers have a tubular, 3-lobed calyx and funnel-shaped, 3-
tipped corolla. The fruit is a gobular capsule.Leaves, Stem and Root: Curcuma domestica is a perennial,
erect and leafy plant with very large, lily-like leaves up to
1.2 m long. The leaf blade is ovate-lanceolate, thin, entire-
margined and narrows to a long sheath-like petiole. The
main rhizome is thickened to a tuber and has numerous roots.
The roots in turn terminate in partially elliptical tubers. The
secondary rhizomes are digit-shaped with no roots. All
rhizomes are yellowish-brown with stipules and appear
transversely ringed when they die.Habitat: Turmeric is probably indigenous to India; it is
cultivated today in India and other tropical regions of
southeast Asia.
Production: Turmeric root consists of the fmger-like, often
tuber-like, scalded and dried rhizomes of Curcuma longa. It